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ASEAN eyes 'low hanging fruit' for Rohingya repatriation process
ASEAN and Myanmar seek practical steps to alleviate the situation in Rakhine state following an assessment of the conflict-torn region.
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Rohingya refugees shout slogans at a protest against a disputed repatriation program at the Unchiprang refugee camp near Teknaf, Bangladesh. Frightened and angry Rohingya refugees forced Bangladesh to call off efforts to start sending back some of the hundreds of thousands of the stateless Muslims to Myanmar, casting fresh doubt on a disputed repatriation program. (AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar)
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SEAN and the government of Myanmar have agreed to take practical steps to alleviate the situation in Rakhine state, in accordance with a preliminary needs assessment (PNA) conducted in the conflict-torn region.
The state was where Myanmar’s military cracked down on insurgencies in 2017 that drove out 730,000 Rohingya Muslims, a minority people in Rakhine who are denied citizenship and live in apartheid-like conditions. Myanmar is currently working with ASEAN to prepare for the safe, dignified and voluntary return of refugees who had fled to Bangladesh.
The two sides agreed to pursue "low-hanging fruit" objectives after a meeting of delegates in Naypyidaw on Monday, which was attended by ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi and Adelina Kamal, the executive director of the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management (AHA Center), as well as ASEAN delegates and high-ranking officials from key ministries of Myanmar and Rakhine state.
Monday's decision is based on a report by the Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ERAT), a division of the AHA Center that was dispatched to Rakhine in March, according to a statement from the ASEAN Secretariat.
